Monday marks six months since recreational marijuana shops Karing Kind and Terrapin Care Station broke the Boulder County legal pot barrier and began offering their aromatic goods to customers ages 21 and up.

And while some in local law enforcement point to criminal activity linked to legal marijuana sales, sources within the industry say that the first half year of legal pot has been a mellow affair in Boulder County, and records show it has poured well over $350,000 in tax revenue into the city of Boulder's coffers.

Business owners Spencer Uniss and Adam Weiss have been a part of the legal marijuana landscape in the city of Boulder for five years, launching a grow in 2009 for their medical marijuana dispensary, Breckenridge Organic Therapy. On Jan.6 they submitted the first ever recreational marijuana business license application in the city, also for a grow operation, Uniss said.

After purchasing the dispensary in April, Uniss and Weiss reopened the Greenest Green, 5290 Arapahoe Ave, exclusively as a recreational marijuana shop in May.

In Boulder, which has strict regulations governing co-located medical and recreational businesses, including mandating a physical separation of the two parts of the business, the full conversion made the most sense, Uniss said, adding that the business does offer discounts to card-carrying medical marijuana patients and would put its products against those offered anywhere else in the state, medical or recreational.

"Working with the city of Boulder has been a pleasure. We have open lines of communication with them and we know we are between the lines," Weiss said, specifically praising the efforts of Boulder code-enforcement police officer Beverley Bookout. "We strive to be the most compliant. It just helps everything run more effectively and presents a national model."

The Greenest Green is one of 12 recreational pot shops operating in Boulder, city spokesman Patrick von Keyserling said, to go along with 15 medical marijuana dispensaries. Two recreational shops co-locate with dispensaries, he said.

According to the city's most up to date sales tax figures, recreational marijuana sales put $357,046 in city coffers between Feb. 18 and the end of May. Medical sales over the first five months of 2014, including the first half of February and all of January, generated $415,360 in sales tax revenue.

'Not doing our juveniles any favors'

The story of the current pot market in Boulder County is not only about rolling in the sales tax dough, however. In Longmont, a town that does not allow even medical marijuana businesses to operate, law enforcement officials say they have seen some negative impacts directly related to recreational marijuana's legal availability in the county.

Cmdr. Jeff Satur with the Longmont police department, pointed to two arrests made in the city in the same week in July that demonstrate the consequences to "free and open" access to marijuana.

He said on July 5 a man named Stephen Tuggle was arrested for selling marijuana to students at Silver Creek High School. It appears Tuggle was legally buying it before reselling it to minors, Satur said. On July 8, a man police identified as Francisco Ramirez was arrested in the 1400 block of Bross Street also for allegedly selling legally purchased marijuana to young people.

"People buying marijuana and selling it to kids is something that many people would agree is not doing our juveniles any favors," Satur said. "It's just like alcohol use. We have youth trying to get a hold of alcohol and youth trying to get a hold of marijuana. There is always going to be people who take advantage of a situation."

Though he has only been serving there for about four months, Louisville police chief David Hayes said that, anecdotally, his city has not seen a noticeable uptick in crime since the arrival of legal weed sales. The city has two recreational marijuana stores.

"We have not seen an increase in call load. There has been no substantial increase in DUIs or driving under the influence of drugs," Hayes said. "So far, it's kind of a non-issue. We may very well, but so far we just haven't seen any impact from it."

Between Feb. 18 and Aug. 15 this year Boulder police logged 68 reports related to marijuana offenses inside the city limits, up from 60 over the same period last year, records show.

The most substantial increase was incidents of public consumption of marijuana. After logging five reports for that infraction between Feb. 18 and Aug. 15, 2013, Boulder police over the same period this year have logged 32, a 540 percent increase.

Regardless of whether or not it can be definitively linked to any hike in criminal activity, recreational weed is popping up in more places around Boulder County and attracting a diverse and growing customer base, according to industry and government sources.

Lafayette recently got its first recreational shop when former dispensary Herbal Wellness, 400 W. South Boulder Road, about three months ago became a joint medical-recreational retailer, city spokeswoman Debbie Wilmot said. Wilmot said no additional license applications have been filed in Lafayette for a recreational pot business, but the city's dealings with Herbal Wellness have been smooth.

In Nederland, Boulder County's first private marijuana smoking club, Club Ned, has grown since opening in March to include over 600 members, founder Cheryl Fanelli said. It claims members from countries including Brazil, New Zealand and Germany, she noted.

Advocate sees pot industry as part of Boulder brand

Over at Karing Kind, 5854 Rawhide Court, Boulder County's official first recreational pot retailer after opening hours before Terrapin Care Station on Feb. 18, owner Dylan Donaldson last week said business is "steady and steadily increasing."

He said his customers seem to be pretty evenly split between locals and tourists. Many of them are older that one might expect, he added.

"It's great to see people coming out and trying the product and exercising their Amendment 64 rights. It means the industry is moving forward," he said. "I'd also like to say that the county commissioners have been extremely fair and have heard us out on our concerns and heard our input and taken it seriously."

Industry lobbyist and consultant Shawn Coleman supported Donaldson's assertions about the tourism interest and patronage from older demographics, saying that when he visits shops in the Boulder area, he is typically one of the younger people in the business and he is 36 years old.

Considering the strong tourist interest shops are reporting, Coleman said he is planning to go before the Boulder City Council next month to push for more emphasis on the recreational marijuana industry as part of the city's brand.

He said considering the relative calm and quiet surrounding the launch of retail marijuana sales, he would like to see the conversation shift to better ways to accommodate customers, particularly those from out of town. Coleman also advocates expanding hours of operation for shops, and clearing up questions in the hospitality industry, such as if hotels may allow their guests to smoke.

"I think the next six months should be really focusing on the cannabis consumer in the city and what to do to accommodate them," he said.

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